How to start a screen printing business

How much does it cost to start a screen printing business?

The short anwser is about $10 per day or just $212 per month.

For the cost of an average car payment, here is a machine that actually makes you money when you run it!
A 5 year bank loan for $10,000 at 10% interest only costs $212.47 per month - much less than another employee. That's only $10 per day to be able print at least 100 - 6 color shirts an hour. Even if you only print 212 shirts per month and only make a dollar a shirt, it's smart business to go automatic. What are you waiting for? Your banker will understand the return on investment.

How much Money can you make in a screen printing business?

At least $100,000 a year.

You can usually print at least 180 shirts per hour and because the Trooper is an automatic press, you can print 180 - 6 color shirts an hour. An average price for a 1 color print on a 100% cotton t-shirt ranges from $5.50 to $9.00 depending on the number of shirts in the order and you charge much more for a 6 color shirt. An order for 72 shirts would take less than 25 minutes to print and you would charge at least $8.00 per shirt for 6 colors or $576.00.

$144.00 72 shirts would cost about $2.00 each when you buy in dozens. $ 21.00 Screen making materials average about 3.50 per screen. $ 3.60 Calculate ink cost at $.05 per shirt $ 1.00 Lights and electricity $169.60 Total cost of materials.

It will also take you about an hour to make a screen, and only a little longer to make more screens.

T-Shirts

Wholesale cost for shirts is about $24.00 per doz. for 100% heavy weight white cotton t-shirts. Price varies depending on how many you buy at a time.

Silk Screens

Pre-stretched screens cost about $25.
You can change the images and use the screen over and over again.

It is very reasonable to reuse a screen more than 20 times

Silk Screen Making

You will use about $1.50 worth of materials to make a screen.

Screen making goes faster if you prepare screens ahead of time so they are ready-to-expose when a suprise job arrives. The most time consuming part of making screens is waiting for them to dry.

Screen Printing Ink

You will get thousands of prints from a gallon of ink, but we suggest calculating costs at $.05 per shirt.

Business Utilities

Electricity, Shop space, Lights, Heat should be calculated and added for the space you use.

Time & Labor

It does take time to make screens and print a job.
If you clean, reclaim or coat several screens at a time, you are more productive. Assuming you have ready to expose screens on the shelf, you can expose and prepare a screen for printing in less than an hour.

What are the benefits of owning screen printing business?

• Everybody loves t-shirts and there is strong market for small jobs big companies don't want.
• You can print in a very small space, and earn hundreds of dollars an hour right in your own home.
• As a middleman, you only order and print what the customer has acutally ordered.
• Carry little or no inventory - Local distributor can deliver blank shirts in 1 day.
• Brand name shirts add recognition to what you sell.
• Tax benefits can help reduce your taxes, even as you make more money.

How to market a screen printing business?

• Every person you meet is now a potential customer.
• You must reach these people and get them to buy.
• You must identify anyone else selling a similar products.
• You must make the service that comes with your product different & have more value.
• Don't worry that your new business is not unique - buyers are looking for screen printers.

List every sporting season that will need uniforms and team support items like t-shirt, caps and pennants. Sports teams always wait until the last minute and have trouble organizing sizes, printed images and how team members will pay. You organize it ahead of time, deliver on time and you will get the order now and in years to come.